Highlights of
Report Number: 2007-30-126 to the
Internal Revenue Service Director, Collection, Small Business/Self-Employed Division.

IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS

Collection Field function (CFf)
employees are required to issue a Receipt for Payment of Taxes (Form 809)
whenever cash is received from a taxpayer.Effective controls over Form 809 issuance and processing are important
to ensure the accurate and timely deposit of taxpayer payments.

WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT

This audit was initiated because the Form 809 is classified
as a security item, and its use is strictly controlled and limited to only
certain employees. The Form 809 is an
official document for receipt of cash payments from taxpayers.All remittances secured by CFf employees must
be transmitted to the Submission Processing site on the day collected or as
soon as possible on the next business day to meet Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) goals for timely deposit and to avoid unnecessary delays in processing. Group managers must review all receipt books
assigned to their employees at least once per year to verify that all receipts
have been accounted for.

WHAT
TIGTA FOUND

TIGTA found that
the Form 809 receipt books were properly issued to and
maintained by the 28 revenue officers assigned to 3 groups at the Philadelphia
CFf office. In addition, the
annual reconciliation of issued receipt books was timely completed, segregation
of duties was adequately maintained within the groups, remittances were timely
transmitted to the Submission Processing site for processing, and receipt books
were properly returned to the Submission Processing site when revenue officers
separated from the Philadelphia CFf office groups. However, revenue officers transferring
between field offices were not required to return their receipt books. In addition, 6 receipt books had not been
returned as required because no receipts had been issued within the last 3
years. While these conditions are not in
accordance with established procedures, based on the results of our other
control tests, TIGTA considered them to be of minor significance and risk. TIGTA did not identify any employee misuse of
remittances intended for the IRS.

WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED

Because
this is a positive report and TIGTA made no specific recommendations, comments
from the IRS were not required.